


Angels and Demons

by flibbertygigget



Series: The Other 51 [31]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Aaron Burr is a Holy Demon Hunter, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Demon possession, Demons AU, Gen, George III is Demon King, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Magical Inheritance, Mentions of Sexism, References to Christianity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-12 23:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7127153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flibbertygigget/pseuds/flibbertygigget
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aaron Burr never wanted to go back to his uncle's house, but he has no choice. He has to claim his birthright, or Alexander Hamilton will die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Angels and Demons

Hamilton is texting. He's always been like that, unable to focus his mind on only one thing at a time, constantly itching for stimulation. Usually Burr wouldn't mind, but this... this isn't like during the war, when the worst he could do was get in trouble for unknowingly disobeying orders because his mind was too full of words.

This is Burr, trying to tell his ex about his wife being diagnosed with terminal cancer,  _damn it_ , and the situation is difficult enough as it is without Hamilton being a self-centered  _ass_.

"Are you even listening at all?" Burr says, tone almost desperate. Hamilton half-giggles at something on the phone, and then he looks up, eyes bright and oblivious.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Something about your wife, right?"

"She's dying, Hamilton." That gets his attention, at least for the moment. "She has ovarian cancer. There's a 17% 5-year survival rate at this stage; we caught it too late for chemotherapy to do anything but delay the inevitable-" Burr chokes up, and for a moment he even thinks that he will cry, break down in this shitty hipster coffee shop with Hamilton right across from him.

"Wow, that sucks, man," Hamilton says. His eyes flick back down to his phone as it beeps, and Burr sees an amused smile tugging at the edges of his lips. That is the last straw.

Burr stands abruptly, hands shaking as they clasp around the cup of coffee. Finally,  _finally_ Hamilton looks at him, really looks. It seems as though the only thing  _worthy_ of Hamilton's full attention is when someone threatens to leave him, when it affects him personally.

"I need some air," Burr mutters.

"Wait, where are you going?" Somehow Hamilton's voice has more emotion now than when Burr told him about Theodosia's cancer. At that moment, Burr is so angry that he can't remember why he has ever been Hamilton's friend.

"I need to be away from you," he says. Hamilton jerks back as though slapped, and Burr can't bring himself to care. "I thought you could give a shit about me for a solid two minutes, but obviously your damned  _genius_ is too great to be bothered with such insignificant things as friendship." Burr pushes his chair in with far more force than necessary, rattling the table. "Have fun texting."

"Burr, I can explain!" Hamilton says, but Burr is already walking away. He's done with this.

* * *

 **To: George**  
Oh, man, i fucked up.

 **From: George**  
What happened?

 **To: George  
** You know how u were texting me??? My friend was trying 2 tell me about his wife's cancer.

 **From: George  
** So?

 **To: George  
** So he's pissed at me now, and i don't blame him.

 **From: George  
** It's not your fault that you have a life outside of him.

 **To: George  
**???

 **From: George  
** If you ask me, he's jealous. He has no one else to talk to, and he's just realizing that you have other friends besides him, better friends.

 **To: George**  
I think he's more upset over his wife dying

 **From: George**  
Please. There has to be something more than that. A man who cares about one person over his friends has his priorities completely skewed.

* * *

Burr has always prided himself on being a reasonable, level-headed person, which only makes the realization that he lost his cool even worse. After all, Hamilton had only been doing the same thing he had been doing since they had met years ago in the army. There had been no reason for Burr to snap at him, no matter how Hamilton's lack of concern still hurt.

At least, that's what Burr tells himself as he walks up to Hamilton's door and rings the doorbell.

As always, Hamilton seems only half there. His hair and house are in chaos, his mind too occupied by letters and numbers to bother with basic life skills. Burr has to swallow down the bitter taste of anger when he sees the phone still in his hand.

"I came to apologize," Burr says in response to Hamilton's confused look. "I overreacted the other day. I just- I'm not trying to make excuses, but it's been a rough couple of weeks for me. I guess that when I thought you weren't listening to me I just snapped."

"It's fine," Hamilton says. Burr waits for a moment, expectant, but it's clear that Hamilton has no intention of apologizing in return. 

"Right," Burr says. "As long as we both are happy."

* * *

 **To: George**  
i dont know what 2 do

 **From: George  
** What do you mean?

 **To: George  
** i mean, i think i fucked up again Burr seems like hes still angry @ me

 **From: George  
** Well, then stop making an effort. Honestly, if he can't recognize what he has right in front of him, he is unworthy to be called your friend.

* * *

"Aaron, I need to talk to you." Burr stares at Eliza Hamilton. She stands, nervous and apologetic, on his front step. Burr presses the heel of his hand to his forehead, trying to stave off the migraine he can feel building.

"Eliza," he says, "please come in." Despite the late hour, he decides to put the coffee on. He has a feeling that he won't be getting much sleep tonight.

"Thanks," Eliza says, taking a large gulp, seemingly unaffected by the scalding temperature. Burr takes a tentative sip and decides to wait to drink his mug.

"What are you doing here?" he asks.

"It's- It's about Alex." Burr holds back a groan.

"Hamilton and I aren't exactly on the best terms right now," he says. "I don't know what you expect me to do about it."

"Look, Aaron, I'm going to be blunt here," Eliza says. "You and I are about the only friends that Alex has got that haven't either died or been driven away by him. But this... you know people. You have connections that I don't, and if my suspicions are correct..."

"What are your suspicions?"

"Have you seen Alex lately?" Burr nods. "He's constantly on his phone, texting someone neither you nor I have ever met. He's somehow become more withdrawn, more locked inside of his own mind. And what's more telling is that, when I looked on his phone..." She pushes a stack of papers over to Burr. "Look at them. The grammar and spelling gradually get worse and worse. You were the one that taught me the signs of a demon possession."

"You think that a demon is trying to get access to Hamilton's soul." Eliza nods, earnest, and Burr sighs. He had never wanted to go back to his uncle's house. He had wanted to escape his legacy. The forces of heaven or hell, however, seem to have different plans.

* * *

 **From: George  
** Would you like to meet me in person?

 **To: George  
** but u liv in englnd

 **From: George  
** I will be in America next week for business, and i would love to meet you then.

 **To: George**  
i wold  <3 2 ur gr8

 **From: George  
** Excellent. We can plan where we will meet when the time comes.

* * *

 Burr's hands grip the steering wheel of his rental car as he drives through the streets of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Though not a center of heavenly power the way that Princeton or Newark had been during the lives of his grandfather and parents, it is still one of the most holy places in the United States. Now that Burr is forced to obtain his birthright, the center of heavenly power will no doubt shift to New York, but for now... For now Elizabeth is the best place to find out what is going on.

Burr steels himself and knocks on the door of the decaying old church that the rest of the town revolves around. A small boy, maybe seven years old, opens the door and lets Burr in.

"Where is Mr. Edwards?" Burr asks.

"He's in his office."

"Lead me to him." The church that Burr's uncle calls home is just as Burr remembers it- fallen into disrepair, full of half-cleared rubbish and empty bottles. The office is the worst, so dirty that Burr can't take a step without stepping in or on something.

"Aaron," his uncle says, distaste curling in his voice. Burr bows his head, too aware of tradition to break it even now, when the condition of the holiest place in the country has destroyed any remaining respect he may have had for his uncle. "You have met John King Edwards, I see. He is Edward's son. The legacy will be carried on correctly this time, you see."

"The position was given to my mother, and my father through her. It is mine by birthright, and I have come to claim it."

"Bullshit." Burr frowns. Even he, who has abandoned this world of heavenly battles, dislikes crude language in a blessed place. "It was mine in the first place once Eunice rejected it."

"Grandfather Edwards chose my mother, as his oldest living child after Uncle Eunice rejected the birthright, to be the one to continue fighting the Devil's forces. You were only to bear it until I came of age." Burr sighs. "Look, I don't want to fight. I'm just here to take what is mine."

"You've never wanted it before. What's changed?" Burr stays silent. "Answer me, damn it!"

"There is a demon attempting to commit possession in New York," Burr says. "I need the birthright more than you do. When was the last time you cast out a demon or even performed a routine rite of exorcism? If you aren't going to do your duty, it is my responsibility to take the burden from you."

"If someone's let a demon in, it's their own damn fault. You know as well as I do that only the sinful attract demons to them to feed off their diseased souls."

"Yes, but-"

"Why waste your time casting demons from sinners? They'll never change. The demons will only return, stronger than before." Burr is done with this. The Cross of Exorcism is in plain sight, on a gilded stand atop his uncle's desk.

"Because," Burr says, plucking the cross from where it sits, "his is my friend, and I trust him to use his life well after I cast out the demon that has him in its grasp. I don't know about God, but I believe in Hamilton."

* * *

 **From: George**  
If you still wish to meet me, come to the parking garage of your building tonight.

 **To: George  
** i tot u wer coming in a wek

 **From: George  
** Plans change.

* * *

About a half hour from the place where he will return the rental car, Burr's phone begins to ring. He looks at the number, and his stomach knots.

"Eliza, what's happened?" he says.

"He's gone," she says, and he can hear the tears in her voice. "He's gone, Aaron. He took his phone with him, but he isn't picking up."

"Don't worry, I'll be there in fifteen minutes." It's actually closer to twenty-five, even with Burr braking multiple traffic laws and going as fast as he can on the busy New York streets.

He arrives at Hamilton's apartment, and he doesn't even bother to knock. Eliza is in the living room, shaking on the couch.

"When did he disappear?" Burr demands.

"I don't know! He went outside to take a call, but he never came back in. I didn't even check the time. It was less than an hour ago, I know that."

"Than there might be still time," Burr says. "If the demon is allowed to take hold... Let's just say that casting out a rooted demon can be risky even for the most experienced people."

"You have to save him."

"We need to see if your car is still here. If it isn't, than I don't know-" Burr breaks off, frustrated. "God damn it, I wish I had been able to get here faster."

"Come on," says Eliza, taking the lead as they walk out to the apartment building's parking garage. They are almost to Eliza's car when Burr freezes.

He knows this feeling. He has felt it only once before, when he accompanied his grandfather to a house where the mother was afflicted by a demon. The contamination of holiness, the dank ooze of corruption... He knows what is in the parking structure with them.

"You..." he mutters, and then he pushes Eliza into the car. "Wait here!" Burr runs, not away from the terrible darkness but towards it. In the eye of the demon is where Hamilton will be, he is certain of it.

Burr is suddenly thrust into pitch blackness. A low chuckle thrums around him in the darkness and Burr tries to locate a direction, but he can't. He tries to reach for the Cross of Exorcism, but he is frozen in place, helpless in the face of this immense evil.

"Foolish mortal," a silky voice says. "Did you really think your powers could stand against my might? That cross is but a child's plaything in the face of the Demon King."

"Lucifer, show yourself!" Burr is surprised at how calm he sounds, at how calm he feels. He should be terrified, but the world around him is mirage-like, unreal, and he can't seem to bring in the full force of the situation.

"You would die if you saw my true form." The darkness seems to recede for a moment, only for the black to shift and form into a tremendous winged figure, a man but somehow inhuman, with shining, sunken black holes for eyes. It's mouth opens, and Burr falls to his knees from the shriek almost too high for his ears to hear. "But I can show you this. Have you ever seen the likes of me before, Cross-Bearer?"

"Never," Burr says, "but skip the theatrics. Show me the one you have brought here to possess." A bright, fiery light pierces through the demon's chest, and Burr squints to see Hamilton twisting inside, writhing in pain.

"Behold the man," the demon says, voice dripping with sarcasm. "He has truly paid the hero's price, has he not? Sold his soul to me, and what for? A few extra hours per day. It was almost too easy." Burr's hand goes through the darkness as though it is tar, but when his hand clasps the Cross of Exorcism that he hid in his inside jacket pocket it all seems easier somehow.

"You haven't possessed him yet," Burr says, and then he thrusts the Cross from it's hiding place. The pure silver emits a soft glow, and the demon hesitates. "Now, I'm giving you to the count of three to let that man go and return to hell where you belong. If you don't, I will be forced to use this to it's fullest power, and you will be destroyed." The demon laughs, surging forward until it is pressing the Cross to Burr's chest. It is so hot that Burr can smell his jacket beginning to burn, but he refuses to flinch. If he lets go of the Cross, all is over.

"Do you really believe that you stand a chance against me?" the demon says, it's voice surprisingly soft.

"No," Burr says, "but I have to try. Bono Malum Superate!" The Cross tears through the demon with a blinding light, and Burr feels his skin melting from the heat. Another horrible scream and it is over. The darkness is broken, and it is just Burr and Hamilton lying on the floor of a New York parking garage.

"Alex! Aaron!" Burr looks up. Eliza is there, looking worried and panicked for a moment before taking out her phone. "Hello? I need an ambulance here right now. My friend's hand is burned badly and my husband is unconcious. Yes, please, just hurry!" She puts down the phone. "So that was what you rejected when you left your home." Burr stares at Hamilton, willing the man to move.

"I- yes. I wanted no part of it."

"I don't blame you." She sits beside him. "Though, right now, I'm glad that you had that."

"You know what?" Burr says. "I am too."

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Let's Agree to Keep Work Out of It](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7317769) by [DilynAliceBlake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DilynAliceBlake/pseuds/DilynAliceBlake)




End file.
